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Hilton Surpass approval details

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Cdnewmanpac
Established Contributor

Hilton Surpass approval details

Over the weekend, I was approved for the Amex Hilton Surpass card. Since I think I was a fairly marginal candidate, I thought I would post all my details for those who are considering Amex revolvers. I had an earlier thread concerning whether I should apply now (after only a few months with amex) or in January (when I will start my travels). In retrospect, I'm really glad I applied now. While I may have gotten a higher limit later, I might not have. As it is, I'll get 2 chances to increase my limit before I need to use the card.

 

Applied by phone, couldn't make the online app system work after trying for a week. Got "additional processing". Got an email 8 hours later stating application in process. Checked online, got "approved". Called this morning for APR and CL.

 

As expected, got low CL (1000) and high APR (19.24). APR doesn't matter, as this will be a PIF card. CL will need to increase to at least 2k in order to be useful long term, as most of my hotel stays exceed 1000/stay. I plan to request CL at 61 days and 6 mos, both of which should happen before my first big stay. It will be a challenge to meet the 3k in 3 mos challenge for the 20,000 points with such a low limit, but I like a challenge.

 

Current scores are roughly same as signature. Amex has been softing TU every month since I got the Zync, have never softed EX. However, they hard pulled EX following approval. So I don't really know which one was used for approval. It matters because EX has 4 inq, TU 1 and EX had an additional paid collection reporting.

 

AAoA 6.5-7 years depending on how student loans report.

 

Negatives: 3 charge offs from 2006, one paid collection from one of those chargeoffs (paid off 1/11, reports on TU and EX), one paid collection perkins loan (only EX, paid off 7/10). 

 

Current cards: Amex Zync (3/12, NPSL, high balance 11,400, balance at app time 0, but reporting 663 on CRAs), Chase SW RR Visa Sig (1/12, 0/5000 on EX, 750/5000 on TU, high balance 4400), USAA WMC (2/12, 0/7000, high balance 3700), Cap1 (12/11, 0/1250, high balance 140), WF Visa (AU, 2/02, 0/16400, high balance 12200).

 

Not yet reporting: Discover More (7/12, 2000 cl, not used), USAA personal loan (7/12, 8000, got in case of contractor overages during basement remodel, first payment 8/12, likely pay off in a few months).

 

Current mortgage: WF, somewhere between 300 and 400k, 4/11, no neg. 

 

Closed: First Premier secure (7/10-2/12, 450 cl, no neg), WF Secured (1/11-2/12, 1000 limit, no neg), Cap1 (11/02-6/06, 500cl, no neg, but closed when other Cap1 missed payment). Chase 2nd mortgage (9/05, 30k, paid off in 08, no neg), ASC mortgage (9/05, 135k, paid off in 08, no neg), credit union auto loan (11/03, 25k, paid off 08, no neg).

 

Student loans: total of about 30k, all in deferral, most from 2000-2002, some from 2011-2012, only negative is the perkins loan that went to collection and was paid in full. That one only reports on EX. All the rest have no negatives.

 

Income >100k, dti with student loans 28%, without 25%. 

 

That's my story. Hope this is useful to anyone considering Amex revolver. I believe the zync helped and would have helped more if I'd waited 6 months. I'm now done applying for new credit. I will try in January to PC the Chase SW card to CSP, but will not be heartbroken if I fail. I will accept auto CLI from anyone, but will only be requesting from Amex. The rest are more than sufficient for my needs. Whatever success I've had, much credit goes to the info and people on this board. 

In wallet: Ink Plus 10k, AMEX TE 25k. In bag: CSP 16k, USAA WMC 15k, Hyatt 13k, United MPE 12k, AMEX HHonors 3k. In SD: Cap 1 QS 5k, Discover IT 7k. FICO 08 says my EQ is now 844, was 510 in 2010.
Message 1 of 3
2 REPLIES 2
Anonymous
Not applicable

Re: Hilton Surpass approval details

thanks for sharing. It will be very helpful if others do the same

Message 2 of 3
Captain4Ever
Established Member

Re: Hilton Surpass approval details

Sorry for crashing the party. I would like to share our experience with Amex as well.

 

My wife just started credit last Oct 2011 , as an AU on her aunt's BoA Amex (backdated 1998). Her credit is just roughly 10 months old  by now. 

Last June, I wanted to see if she was eligible for any Amex cards or what . It turned out she could be approved for the Gold and Green ones. 

However, we don't really need charge cards, so we decided to app for BCP, instantly approved with $2k  ( she never had any Amex charge cards before).

 

I don't know if backdating from her aunt's card from 1998 helped my wife get in Amex or not. I found our case might be interesting to some of you. 

Cause I often hear many people have to get a charge card before obtaining a revovler from Amex.  Smiley Happy

Message 3 of 3
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